Customer Reviews

Final Fantasy - Unlimited (Phase 1)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I'd have to say I was disappointed when I first saw the first episodes of Unlimited. It was named Final Fantasy, but very little linked it to the incredible video game series of the same name. The story seemed immature and generic and not interwoven with many character driven side stories; only the Final Fantasy mascots appeared (Chocobo, for one); and the music didn't reflect the classical style that went with the games. So, needless to say, I didn't bother buying anymore of the DVDs in the series.

Then the box set came out, and I admitted to myself that I was at least curious about how this series would end, plus I had learned that Gonzo made Unlimited, and Gonzo has yet to fail me in any of my anime endeavors. I bought it, and I watched the first episodes again. I cringed, because suddenly I felt the same way and even found a few more things I disliked about it. But I didn't stop, and continued to watch, and found that, slowly, this series evolved. It became emotionally driven, with a lot of elements that made Final Fantasy great. There were mascots galore (the stated chocobo, cactuar, moogles, summons, and Cid). Some of the music heard can be heard in previous games (the opening song--not the title song--and the battle victory).

Still, it wasn't as Final Fantasy as its namesake, but I found that in watching the anime the entire way through that that was okay. Though it isn't a good chapter in Final Fantasy, it's a great stand-alone anime nonetheless. It has great animation, a strange style that seems both classical and cutting edge (Astroboy with CG). The story deepens as the two main characters search for their parents, and other story lines reveal themselves as well, such as Kaze's story, the main character in charge of a powerful gun capable of summoning creatures into battle, and Lisa, a martial artist with the power to control elements. The antagonists also turn into something more than they had been in the beginning. A deeper, more sinister foe appears later, one that adds a sense of dread to the story that wasn't there previously. All in all, it adds up to one decent anime. And the value itself can't be beaten. Twenty-five episodes of anime for less than fifty-bucks.

It's difficult, however, to recommend this anime. I'd only recommend this to Final Fantasy fans who don't take the game too serious. If you do, you'll be disappointed with this anime. I'd also recommend it for anyone who enjoys experimentation in their animation. If you enjoyed Kid's Story in the Animatrix, you'll enjoy this.

When I first heard that there was a Final Fantasy series that was to be introduced as a DVD series in the US I was quite excited. Certainly, as a game series, Final Fantasy has consistenly hit high marks in both story and graphics. It seemed reasonalble to expect that the series, coming out at the same time as other series that have shown landmark levels of quality would be something to watch. Alas, that is not the case.

A great tower of light suddenly plunges into the modern world, and titanic monsters appear in epic battles. The world changes subtly as a darker presence begins to take possession of the shadows. A pair of research scientists start an investigation, but disappear right after they publish a book about a strange underground world that seems to have appeared right under our feet. Now it falls to Yu and Ai Hayakawa to try and find their parents. The board an odd subway train, and are transported to...Wonderland.

In this DVD we take our first tour of wonderland, as the young children discover the mysteries and threats that surround then and acquire new companions like Lisa, who has her own special variety of 'martial arts,' and Kaze who uses a magical gun to carry out his role as a summoner (remember FF8 and FFX). At present the story stays focussed at this level, a bit more fight and adventure oriented, although I expect that the serious story arcs will gradually become more important.

While the work is acceptible as standard Saturday morning cartoon fareit really lakes the flair that marks most Final Fanasty work. In fact, other than some creatures like Chocobos, it really has very little in common with the Final Fantasy game series. Scripting and character development are minimal, aimed at an audience that isn't quite ready for the complex relationship building which marks the show's namesakes. And the artwork is interesting in spots, but more cartoon-like, reminiscent of than the originals.

A quick glance at the credits shows that there is very little cross over between the game creators and the series staff. This explains many of the little gaps that make the show confusing for a long time fan. If one approaches this as an independent work rather than as an heir to one of gaming's greatest lineages, then it is an acceptable and entertaining series. Buy if you are looking for the world of Gaia, peopled with Yuna's, Strife's, and Vivi's you are going to be disappointed, as I was.

Ok... this series isn't exactly like the Final Fantasy games, but the elements are there. For instance, you have chocobo's, you have cactuar's, you have the summoning of Guardian Forces (which by the way look really cool), you have character's which have too much power for their own good, and a journey. This journey is that of Ai and Yu's search for their parents, where they are accompanied by Lisa Pacifist, a woman who possesses the cool power of Kigen Arts. During their journey, they see and do many wonderous things in wonderland (I wont say anymore, I dont want to spoil too much of the plot).
I have this product rated as 4/5 stars, but actually i think there it should be 4.5/5 stars. I really enjoyed this series, but I dock it .5 points because the time length ADV gives the series to be is inadequate. They say it is total 625 minutes, where actually each episode is 22min 45 sec, thus 22.75 min * 25 = 568.75 minutes long total length of series.
Anywho, if you like final fantasy, i suggest watch this series.

Final Fantasy: Unlimited gets off to a very odd beginning. The artistic style is different from most animes, and it's also different from most US animation. In fact, it doesn't really lie anywhere in-between. At the get go, the strange mix of CG animation and hand-drawn animation don't really seem to mesh too well.. but given enough time, you will get used to it, and perhaps even enjoy it. The English voice acting is decent.. All the characters match their voices quite well? although the twins (who's names are pronounced "You" and "I") sound just like kids. "That's good," you say. "They are kids." Yes, you're right, but the voice actors sound like they're trying too hard. Kids attempting to voice act = bad. The Japanese dub might be preferable.

The plot seems to be a bit bland and generic at the moment, but we?ll have to wait for it to evolve, the same as in any story. While some of the action is mildly violent, the general feel of this series isn't adult by any means. While an adult can catch a lot more of the symbolism than could a, adolescent, the plots themselves are thus-far simple and perhaps a bit childish.

If you?re a die-hard fan of the series (like I am, admittedly) you'll probably want to pick this up at some time. However be warned, the TV show is very odd. Alice in Wonderland comes to mind. Traditional animation + traditional storyline + recreational drugs? Is this bad? Perhaps not, it may turn out to be something new and original? but the beginning doesn?t seem to be anything too special.

The box art is decent, and the box construction quality is very good.

If you've bought it, try the next DVD and make a judgment then. If you haven't tried it out yet, you may want to consider waiting for the next few Phases to be released and reviewed. Just be prepared for a bit of insanity.

This is a great anime, will keep you entertained and guessing until the last episode. But be warned, the story line and action are a bit slow. And the main character's summoning gun takes at least 10 seconds... just for him to fire it. Sigh. But don't let this keep you from buying this product. It is still a great anime, hope you enjoy.

I have not heard much good about Final Fantasy Unlimited, but I decided to give the show a chance since I am a Final Fantasy fan. The show did bring in many bits and pieces from the game series such as Chocobos, the character Cid, many summon creatures, and did a pretty good job with the fantasy setting. Another positive for the show is the voice acting is overall, very good. The voices fits with the characters and the dubbing is well done. Unfortunatley, these are only good remarks I have about the show.

What is wrong with the show- quite a few things. First of all, the animation is odd. The combination of 3D graphics and 2D graphics did not fit together. Also, many different animation sequences were used over and over again through the entire show. The show would have been better if all their time was spent on the 2D animation- adding shading, looking to see if characters looked proportional, and definitely better character design. Of all the anime shows I have seen, this series takes the cake for the worst looking characters. I'm not talking about the main characters for they are fine, but the secondary characters and enemys look like they belong in a kiddy show. Because of this horrible character design, it was difficult for me to get into the show. Here is an example- the army of good guys are dressed in gray body suits with bulky black gloves, boots, and hoods; they have no muscle or facial definition at all and some of them appear fat; worst of all were their weapons- long pipes with which they blow darts out of. I often found myself laughing at the characters since they looked too ridiculous to be menacing or realistic.

Another big problem with the show was it became very predictable. In every single show, an enemy attacks the good guys and Kaze uses his weapon, the magon, to save the day. The show quickly became boring. What annoyed me the most was the overkill with the chocobo pulling the little heroine girl's piggy tails. It wasn't funny the first time and it was dang annoying by the tenth time. Another predictable thing was each time the show showed the evil emperor, he was eating some odd meal and loosely going over their evil plans. The writers had plenty of things to go more deeply into such as the conflict with Makenshi and his brother, Kaze's past and romance. I have seen tid bits of the manga and I believe a lot was left out.

Speaking of leaving things out, this is the last problem I had with Final Fantasy Unlimited. At the end, there are many things I wanted to find out, mostly who died and who survived the final battle. It is left unknown if the kids, their parents, and the other main characters survived the ordeal and return home. Also, the show never tells if the destroyed planets are restored. Then there is the whole thing about the horrible monster Omega and how his crystal fragments are scattered about Wonderland. The show needed an extra episode or two to tie up these loose ends.

I came with low expectations for the show and even then I was still disappointed. I highly suggest you don't waste your money on buying the dvd set or renting it.

this was brought as a gift for my daughter who loves final fantasy. she screamed when she saw this. she watches the dvds almost everyday since she got them. so i guess that means that the purchase was a good one. i had a fast delvery and no problems.

The series' main flaw is the repetetiveness of the storylines, somehow even though I watched the episodes back-to-back I still felt deja-vu. The plot wouldn't advance for episodes, and I think this is what caused the ratings to plummet, they took too long to flesh out the plot so, the fans grew bored. Also, what contributed to my feelings was the showing of several identical slides in every episode! That said, it still was a fun watch, the bonds shared by the twins, Chobi, Lisa, and the enigmatic Kaze are really interesting and often funny(when not pertaining to Kaze of course). Also, the villians were not malevoloent, just mischevious which only served to affirm my opinion that this anime is more oriented towards kids. I'm not sure about the mechanism used to rate if it's final fantasy or not, but I think the fact that they had crammed all the plot twists in the last episode contributed to the criticisms, I think if the animators took some of the sub-plots out and focused on the storyline this series would've been good, instead of just decent. As it is, it's still fun, and at a bargain price; if you have nothing better to do, go ahead and watch it!(2.5 stars)

Yo, I have the honor of rating this incredible series first! If you have ANY serious love for the FF series then you'll love the TV show. The story-line has been done to death, but it IS a pretty tight series. Anyway, this series is about twins (a 12-year-old boy and girl) who go out looking for their parents after they disappered into another world known as the "inner world". Ai and Yu (the twins) go into an abandoned subway station where they find a ghost train that takes them to various parts of the inner world, where there are plenty of new friends and enemies to meet along the way. They meet Kuruki Kaze, (which means "Black Wind") who has forgotten his memory and can summon beasts with his Demon Gun, Lisa, who keeps her past a secret and can read the energy of living things and uses mysterious powers, Ru, a mysterious girl who can transform into a wolf with the sight of her reflection, and various other characters such as Cid, Chocobos, and other things from the FF games. I cannot some up this entire series, but trust me, it's worth getting. This is only the FIRST box though, so box 2 is still out there on the internet somewhere. I fell in love with this series after the first episode, but this is only for die-hard FF fans in my opinion. I hope my review was helpful!

HAPPY TRAILS!

I enjoy this anime not because it has the "Final Fantasy name"
cause I enjoy the plot and characters.
The anime gets such low ratings cause they think of it as "Final Fantasy" and base it off the games. FFU is an orginal Final Fantasy title, like every final fantasy game has it's own storyline. What people actually want is a final fantasy anime that is based on one of the games. People have no concideration for an original FF storyline anime. That's why it gets such a low rating. I am not a newbie to anime, I personally look for the message of FFU, which is family and friends conqure evil and keep hopes high. I think to be a true fan of this anime is to get its message. I would suggest this to non-final fantasy fans, because they wouldn't judge the anime on how Final Fantsish it is.